BRIDE FOR SALE
Perhaps a better caption would have been, ‘what is the worth of a woman?’, ‘what is her present and future premium value?’. This question comes to mind considering what is taken in exchange for the ‘head’ of the woman at traditional marriages. Is she just worth some alligator pepper, oversized yams, palm oil, coconut, red oil, baskets of groceries, bags of rice, a box of clothes and wads of cash? Or perhaps a baby manufacturer, milk factory, child processor, room toy , a piece of furniture or even antique? When my friend, Winston (real name withheld) got married in June last year, he lamented, ‘omo Beryl, those guys are cruel. The bride price negotiation started from N 1,500,000 aside the other items customary requested and exclusive of refreshment and logistics for the occasion which almost gulped N2,000,000. Ehn! How much am i earning to warrant all the harassment?’ . i told him, ‘guy calm down o, na u wan marry, just take care of their daughter o’. He said, ‘what! Look i wil